Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
Most of the talk about Lindholm at centre seems to stem from Treliving's remarks on the subject to the media. I happened to be listening to those remarks, and I noticed that he very carefully refrained from saying that the team would play Lindholm at C, only that they wanted the flexibility to have that option. Whereas he has said unambiguously that Bennett will play C.
It also remains the case that Lindholm is by far the team's best option at RW. The off-season additions give the team more depth on the right side, but none of them are plausible top-line players. Leivo, for instance, is probably an improvement over Dube if slotted in as 3rd-line RW. He is a downgrade on Lindholm if slotted as 1st-line RW.
Based on these facts, I believe that putting Lindholm at C is the backup plan in case Bennett fails. I don't believe there is a plan to put both players in the middle simultaneously, and still less (as some CPers keep suggesting) that Monahan will be traded to make room for Lindholm. If we do see Lindholm at centre for any extended period, it's either because of a key injury down the middle, or because something else went seriously wrong.
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Could certainly be the case, that does make sense.
I think the biggest thing is to have two looks this year that they can go back and forth on ... makes them less predictable come playoff time.
The Monahan/Gaudreau combination could bounce back. They could have a decent regular season for example. But if they don't try other looks, once again they'll head into a playoff series with the other team keying on them together with no comfortable alternative in place.